Integration projects that went terribly wrong

In 2015, Department of Motor Vehicles projects were cancelled.With 39 agencies, the New Jersey DMV’s computer system has been blamed for failing and shutting down motor vehicle agencies statewide four times, sending drivers away empty-handed.

What was the plan: For the past 10 years, the DMV has unsuccessfully tried to retire the old COBOL computer system with a new system, dubbed MATRX. The original plan was to have MATRX running in three years, said Mairin Bellack, an DMV spokeswoman.

How was it executed: MATRX was proposed in 2005, scoped out in 2006, advertised in 2007 and a contract awarded in 2008. Since then the project has been delayed while costs have increased. The MATRX contract bounced to three vendors, with HP being the last company to inherit it from EDS, a predecessor company, DMV officials said.

And the result: In 2015 the state Attorney General negotiated a $30 million settlement with HP. In the deal, the state kept $14 million, HP kept $16 million for work they’d already done. The state also refused to pay another $5 million in change orders.